Images taken by a medical imaging apparatus such as an X-ray imaging apparatus, X-ray CT apparatus, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) diagnostic apparatus, etc. are archived in a medical image archive apparatus (server).
A radiologist uses an input means such as a mouse, etc., and gives instructions to display, on a medical observation apparatus (viewer), an arbitrary image from images archived in the medical image archive apparatus. The radiologist also generates a medical report by inputting findings with respect to the image in an input column displayed by the medical report generation apparatus.
Herein, in case of newly examining (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as “current examination”) a patient who was examined in the past (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as “previous examination”), the radiologist sometimes states temporal changes from the previous examinations in the medical report of a current examination.
Then, the radiologist is required to confirm an image under focus in the previous examination (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as “focus image”), or compare the focus image and an image of the current examination.
In this case, the selection of a focus image, the image selection of the current examination to compare with the focus image, or a parallel display operation of the focus image and the image of the current examination, etc. with respect to a medical observation apparatus, are conducted by the radiologist himself/herself.
For example, in case of selecting a focus image, the radiologist reads medical reports of the previous examinations and causes to display, on a medical image observation apparatus, several images which may be considered to correspond to the findings. The radiologist also selects, as a focus image, an image that is considered to be closest to the findings among these images.